July 5th-the morning of the 7th, 2012 Pampering Time and the Rehearsal Dinner

     The only bad thing about planning a wedding to take place back home with family and living all year in a home 7,000 miles from your family and the wedding site is that you don’t get to spend all that quality time together with your family and friends who are going to be such a huge part of your day much beforehand. So, to at least try to get some of that much needed bonding in that we missed out on being back in the islands, I decided to pamper the bridal party a bit. There are many, many people who have made this once in a lifetime event for my fiancé and me come together so perfectly, and even though it was not possible to do something for everyone all at once, I did what I could to get in the majority of the ladies together on Thursday for some distress and fun time with an appointment for manicures and pedicures at one of the local nail salons in the mall, Excellent Nails.  The all-Vietnamese staff did a fabulous job of massaging our hands and feet, cleaning them up, and painting them with gel shellac, white flowers, and glitter. (The gel shellac was the big selling point of the day-“You want shellac?” “Who wants shellac?” we were asked as soon as we arrived. Apparently, when you put on the shellac-at a $10 extra charge-your nail color will not chip for 2 weeks as opposed to chipping the first few days without it. Anyway, I was sold on it, and so far, so good-No chipping…) While they were fabulous at doing nails, we were fabulous at having a really good time together. I giggled as I watched my soon to be sister in law make funny faces in the massage chair while soaking her feet, and we all made jokes when my fiancée and his nephew happened by shopping for rehearsal dinner clothes and teased us about our giggly bodies in those same chairs. That’s the problem when you decide to get pampered in a mall with everything open for the world to see, but it was the only place close by that we knew could handle all 7 of us.  After all the funny faces, giggles, and extra charges for flowers and shellac, we headed out to lunch at the Red Robin by my 2 flower girls request.  It was so great to be with everyone at once.  I wish all the rest of the ladies from my family could have been there, but there’s more time for that now after the wedding. 

     Last night was the rehearsal dinner hosted by my fiancé’s family at their lovely home (which is also the site of the actual ceremony) taking place today.  After gathering everyone together, which took about a hour longer than expected as we were working all day to take care of last minute details and running late with that (or at least my fiancé and I were-everyone else was ready) and deciding that the sun was still too high in the sky to do the rehearsal at 5 pm (at least the sun was out, and the rains have stopped-Yea!!), we were ready to begin around 6.  Or so we thought...Having been married before (as my son so aptly and with a confused look on his face pointed out to me as we were waiting to do our practice walks down the isle when he asked me about some small detail of his duties, and I answered that I didn’t know because I hadn’t done this before), you would think I would know wanted for the actual ceremony, but I never had a rehearsal dinner or a rehearsal before and neither has my fiancé. Thankfully, my cousin (our minister) has attended and been the officiate for many weddings, so he took the reins and led us through it all, sorting out how we wanted it to go and before you knew it, our wedding party consisting of my matron of honor and the best man, my two ring bearer sons, and our two flower girls took off down the aisle.  Next, it was time for me, in my gold Jessica Simpson skinny heals with my dad by my side as I tried NOT to catch one of those heals in the slats of the decking I was walking on, to head toward my honey. It was the most fun I have ever had rehearsing anything. We made jokes while my brother took pictures to catch all the candid moments, and then it was time to eat! 

     As far as I’m concerned, I couldn’t be marrying into a better family. We just go together, “like peas and carrots” as Forrest Gump would say.  They planned an entire dinner with an Oregonian theme and special dishes (our favorites that we have had over the years with them) made by each family member. From a yummy start of Tillamook cheeses and crackers, fresh corn salsa w/chips and vegetable crudités to the McMenamin’s Brewer Salad and Mediterranean Pasta salad and a fruit platter to the main course of Marinated Grilled Steelhead “locally landed” by our best man and one of my fiancé’s brothers, it was truly gourmet!! For dessert there was Marionberry pie w/ Tillamook ice cream and strawberry delight w/ local Oregon strawberries.  I’ve said it again, and I’ll say it many times over, I am so blessed and lucky! After dinner and dessert, my fiancé and I took a moment to say a few words and present a few gifts to each other and our best man and matron of honor, and I was very surprised with a photograph of the actual bride and groom coconuts which will be “racing” down the Kwajalein lagoon by the Roi-Namur Surf Shack later today competing in the annual “Coconut Cup” fundraiser for the ECCF (Enniburr Children’s Christmas Fund) as we tie the knot as well as a beautiful white gold and pearl necklace just like the one painted on the coconut.  We met at the Coconut Cup 5 years ago today, so it was a very sentimental and meaningful gift as all the gifts my fiancé has given to me over the years.  In turn, I presented him with framed versions of the Balinese batiks we bought on our first trip together and will soon hang in our “new” home back on the islands.  And my matron of honor and I, we will be drinking Oregon wine out of our hand painted Oregon wine glasses in just a few hours.  The best man was given a new filet knife, so he can “land” us some more of that delectable steelhead to eat next time we are here! And with that, the evening began coming to a close, as much as I didn’t want it to as there was not enough time to chat with everyone and catch up, not enough time to share the experience….there’s never enough time, but I will treasure the time we had and look forward to more to come tonight. I can’t believe the day is finally here!!